Father to April hit-run driver: 'Own up'

A screen grab from a video shows a teal 1993-96 GMC single-cab pickup involved in a hit-and-run accident involving the truck and a pedestrian on April 23. The pedestrian was struck near Chapman Avenue and Beach Boulevard in Stanton., PHOTO COURTESY OC SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT

STANTON – The father of a high-functioning autistic man seriously injured in a hit-and-run crash in broad daylight is asking for the public's help to find the driver.

Jeff Bell, 24, of Yorba Linda, was on his way to work and was changing buses when he was hit near the intersection of Chapman Avenue and Beach Boulevard shortly after noon on April 23.

A surveillance camera on an Orange County Transportation Authority bus captured the incident.

“The video shows him being struck by the vehicle and then being thrown underneath the vehicle and coming out the rear side,” said Lt. Jeff Hallock of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Michael Bell said watching the video of his son being hit and dragged sickens him.

“That’s not just some human being; that’s my boy,” he said holding back tears.

Bell suffered severe burns to more than 20 percent of his body and a significant cut to his head. He remains hospitalized at the Southern California Regional Burn Center in Los Angeles and has so far undergone a skin graft and other procedures.

“His scalp was basically torn from his head. It took 38 staples to reattach it,” Michael Bell said. “It’s truly a miracle he is alive.”

At a news conference Thursday morning, Michael Bell said his son remembers being underneath the truck and is angry that this happened to him.

“We are all angry,” Michael Bell said. “We understand that accidents happen, but making a conscious decision to drag someone 100 feet across the asphalt and drive away, without helping him, leaving him for dead, that’s no accident.”

Investigators have interviewed five witnesses, including one who tried to follow the truck but was unable to get a license plate number.

The truck was described as a bright teal or blue-green metallic 1993-96 GMC single-cab pickup. It has a sticker on the left side of the rear cab window and front-end damage sustained during the crash, Hallock said. A description of the driver is not available.

Michael Bell has a message for the driver: “Do the right thing and own up to your actions.”

Michael Bell said his son, who graduated from Esperanza High School and has been working at Office Depot in Garden Grove since October, is looking forward to coming home and hanging out with his 3-year-old border collie named Ruby.

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of the person responsible for running over and critically injuring Jeff Bell. Anyone with information is asked to call Orange County Crime Stoppers at 1-855-TIP-OCCS.

A screen grab from a video shows a teal 1993-96 GMC single-cab pickup involved in a hit-and-run accident involving the truck and a pedestrian on April 23. The pedestrian was struck near Chapman Avenue and Beach Boulevard in Stanton. , PHOTO COURTESY OC SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT
A photo shows a truck similar to this teal 1993-96 GMC single-cab pickup was involved in a hit-and-run accident on April 23. The pedestrian was struck near Chapman Avenue and Beach Boulevard in Stanton. COURTESY OC SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT
Michael Bell, father of 24 year-old hit-and-run victim Jeff Bell. speaks to the press about the injuries his son suffered on April 23. , SAM GANGWER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff Bell, 24, before the hit-and-run injuries he suffered on April 23 when he was struck by a 1993-96 teal GMC single-cab pickup and dragged for 100 feet at the intersection of Chapman Avenue and Beach Boulevard in Stanton. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL BELL
Jeff Bell, 24 year-old hit-and-run victim, in his hospital bed at UCI Medical Center in Orange before being moved to the Southern California Regional Burn Center in Los Angeles. PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL BELL

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